Book III. In
§§ 1–4, the words, I in the Father and the Father in
Me, are taken as typical. Man cannot comprehend, but only
apprehend them. So far as they are explicable Hilary explains
them. But God’s self revelation is always mysterious.
The miracles of Christ are inexplicable (§§ 5–8); this
is God’s way, and meant to check presumption. Human wisdom
is limited, and when it passes its bounds, and invades the realm of
faith, it becomes folly. Next, in §§ 9–17, the
passage, St. John xvii.
1 ff., is explained as
proving that in the One God there are the Persons of Father and of Son,
and as revealing God in the aspect of the Father. Then, in
§§ 18–21, the wonderful deeds of Christ are put forth
as an evidence of His wonderful birth. We must not ask how He can
be coeternal with the Father, for it is in vain that we should ask how
He could pass through the closed door. Either question is mere
presumption. The revelation which Christ makes (§§ 22,
23) is that of God as His Father; Unum sunt, non Unus. And
finally, in §§ 25, 26, he returns to the futility of
reasoning. True wisdom is to believe where we cannot comprehend;
we must trust to faith, not to proof.